"Manchu Hair Rule" Reading & Reflection on Historical Policies

[Andrew Frank]

While listening to Professor Dube's lecture on "China in the 19th Century" on Saturday, I found myself especially intrigued at the ways that the Imperial Palace was shaped and reshaped over the course of its history. The changes the Manchurians made when taking over the country in 1644 with the establishment of the Qing Dynasty seem almost contradictory to me in a way. As noted in Saturday's lecture, the Manchus created a limited government, that allowed dual ruling (a Machu & Chinese in top positions), no change to the economic order, and a respect of the Ming Dynasty's religous practicies. If they really promoted such tolerance, my question is why they were so strict in terms of their hair edicts?

As mentioned in the reading from The Search for Modern China by Cheng et al., the colloquial saying at the time was a bit extreme: "'Lose your hair or lose your head.'" Was this simply a weak (and failed) attempt by the Manchus to enforce their culture, without doing any of the hard work to actually make it happen? As Dube mentioned in the lecture, the Manchus did "lose their distinctiveness" as a nation, as well as their language...Perhaps, if the Qing Dynasty practiced as much tolerance in terms of fashion, as they did in other areas, there reign could have lasted even longer than the 266 years.